November 28, 2006

Note: My longest post by far, with lots of photos and words. As you can imagine, it took me a very long time to come up with it, as I had to pick my brains to remember the names of the places we went to. This post is also dedicated to the boyfriend (read on, and you'll see why), whom I'm missing very much.

October 20-------------Arrived in Melbourne with much anticipation, for I had not seen the boyfriend in over a month. And he was late! Well, only about 5 minutes (he had to park the car), but I was kinda expecting someone to be actually waiting for me, rather than the other way round (sorry babes, I couldn't resist :-p). Anyways, it was so good to meet up once again, and we went for a light supper before heading to his place. He was so sweet; he surprised me with a box of a dozen long-stemmed pink roses (which also came with a bag, a small box of Lindt chocs, aromatherapy oils, and a small sachet of potpourri), waiting for me on the bed.

October 21-------------This was the first day of our road trip. Honestly, I've never been on a road trip where I do not sleep more than 50% of the way (those of you who know me well, would know that I always sleep in the car during long trips). I guess the company makes all the difference, eh? ;)

Stopped by Torquay for breakfast, and then on to the Great Ocean Road. I have to say, the vastness of the beaches was simply astounding. The strong, but beautiful waves hitting against the shore, the beautiful clear waters, the sound of the ocean ... it was as though time stood still for us.

In between the drive, we stopped the car by the side of the road many times, no thanks to the country bumpkin who saw the lovely vast beaches for the first time (okay, Penang beaches just don't cut it compared to this, k?). I ooh-ed and aah-ed every kilometre along the beach.

Finally reached Port Campbell, where we saw the very majestic Twelve Apostles (I actually have a photo of the Twelve Apostles from National Geographic as my desktop wallpaper; I never expected to actually SEE it). It was certainly worth the many-hours drive just to see it (babes, I knew you were tired already from all the driving. Really appreciate you).

It certainly was a very long drive, to me anyway, and we had to catch the last ferry from Queenscliff to Sorrento, so we had to grab a very quick takeaway lunch at Port Campbell. Thank God, we managed to get to Queenscliff about a half hour before the ferry arrived. Took the opportunity to walk along the nearby beach (and take more photos!). The ferry transported us (and the car) over to the Mornington peninsula. Parked the car, and went up to the deck to enjoy the lovely albeit cold breeze. We managed to catch the lovely sunset :-)

As usual, my usual clumsy self always manages to get me into a bit of trouble.

Jammed my hand with the restroom door aboard the ferry. Had to ice it up a bit, and yeah, it hurt like hell.

Stayed at the Whitehall Guesthouse in Sorrento, which was, like, a student hall. The rooms with ensuite bathrooms were all fully booked, so we stayed at the smaller ones instead, where we shared a common bathroom at the end of the hall. It was like walking down memory lane, staying at a place like this, tip-toeing up the staircase, having breakfast with other "students", reminiscing of our student days in Dundee. It was pretty cool. Certainly a beautiful moment to remember ;-)

October 22-------------After a good, hearty breakfast, we headed to the Point Nepean National Park. Point Nepean is a highlight of the Mornington Peninsula National Park. Once the site of a quarantine station for immigrants, and later home to a military fortress, there were a lot to enjoy from the maze of tunnels, lookouts and fortifications, to enjoying the coastal scenery and panaromic views of the Bass Strait, the Rip and Port Phillip Bay.

Okay, how obvious was that that I totally plagiarised the last paragraph from a travel site? :-P I can't help it if I can't remember the names of ALL the places I went to; it's the moments that count, and THOSE, I remember like it was just yesterday.

Anyhoos, we spent quite a bit of time at the Point Nepean National Park. Next to the lovely stretch of beaches along Great Ocean Road, this has got to be the best view of the beaches ever. The water was so clear, you can see the green and red seaweed bobbing along. Well, I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves, eh?

There are four main lookout points at the national park - we started from the visitor's centre, Gunner's Car Park, Fort Pearce, and up to the Point. We took a train-thingy (well, it was carriages joined together by hinges, pulled by a heavy-duty truck, what else would you call it?) to the Point. Since it was an hour's wait for each stop, the boyfriend decided we should walk down instead. That was like, 4.5km! Okay, that might not seem a lot to you, but I was like, dying out there! (Yes, dear, I was!) And it did NOT help to have bloody flies all over the place. Seriously, you'd think we were back in Penang or something. We had to break a short branch of leaves off the shrubs and use that as a fly swatter.

"Seriously, woman, how difficult is it to walk 4.5km?! Lord, gimme strength!"

Before I came to Melbourne, I promised the boyfriend that I'd go jogging with him (yeah, it's his thang). I have SO TOTALLY fulfilled that promise after that albeit-fly-infested-but-totally-gorgeous place, babes. Tee hee hee! :-)

The next attraction in mind was the wineries. Can't remember the name of the winery he brought me to, 'cos we were a bit late for lunch, and there was a big party going on inside. Anyhoos, we drove back to Arthurs Seat, had a late lunch, enjoyed the gorgeous view a bit, and then headed to our next destination.

It's been quite some time since either of us have been to a hot springs resort, so we thought we'd check out the Peninsula Hot Springs.

Pretty up-class, really expensive (AUD35, if I'm not mistaken, compared to the 500yen onsens I've been to in Japan!), but veeerrrryyy nice. It stinks of sulphur, but that's expected. You know what I found funny about the hot springs? It's not that we had to wear our swimsuits to the pools (the Japanese bathe walk about buck-nekkid in the changing rooms, and bathe in the nude), but that the ang-mohs are pretty conservative about undressing in the locker room. I'd think that they'd actually be far more open than the Japs! Anyways, we tried the various temperatures of the hotsprings - 37C, up to 42C. Very relaxing indeed; the boyfriend didn't want to leave! We went home pruned and very relaxed :-)

October 23-25-----------------Finally headed to the CBD. I was on my own those few days as the boyfriend had to work. Did a LOT of shopping, which is weird, because I thought it would be really expensive, given the exchange rate. It's actually not that bad, if you don't go to the big stores. The streets offer plenty of small shops where you can get really good bargains.

Met up with May, who leaves in the city. She took a day off to go shopping with me, bless her. Although I'd say that she bought a lot more than I did, tee hee hee! Anyway, it was a lot of fun, catching up and all. Shopping was at South Yarra, where she introduced me to her favourite shops and stuff. I'd say it was so much fun till I developed leg pains from walking too much! :-P Anyways, yeah, we had a really good time, catching up and all. Thanks May!

October 26-------------The boyfriend took a day and a half to bring me to the pretty-but-touristy-hence-pricy Phillip Island. Yay, another road trip! Yep, by then, I was really starting to enjoy our road trips, because this has got to be the first time where I do not want to go to sleep immediately when I'm in a car!

We stopped at San Remo before crossing the bridge to Phillip Island. Took some photos, camwhored a bit (tee hee hee!) before we made our way to Phillip Island. First stop was to check in to our B&B (Holmwood Guesthouse). It's a quaint little house in Cowes, which had three rooms; all the rooms were decorated of different themes. Ours was The Toile Room, supposedly French, but I thought it was really English! Anyhoos, it was simply gorgeous, really romantic, but really pricey too. Given that the island only thrives on its touristy activities, you can imagine how overpriced everything are (more so for me).

First stop was The Nobbies and Seal Rock. It's like a point, at the edge of the island, where you can see the beautiful rocky ocean, and Seal Rock's this rocky area further to the sea where wild seals lay about (you need to take a boat out to view the seals properly, which we didn't). Very beautiful place, but totally, TOTALLY ruined by the crazy amount of seagulls circling the area. It's like being in Malaysia, but you get seagulls instead of crows. These are vicious birds (I think so anyway), which simply crap about anywhere they please. We were very lucky to not get hit, but a few of the tourists around the area got 'bombed' pretty badly.

We managed to catch the sunset at The Nobbies, which was simply gorgeous. On a side note, I've seen a sunset (nor sunrise) anywhere before, and I managed to catch it TWICE in Melbourne. It was such a sweet moment for us, which was cut short, because we had to make a dash for the car before we get 'creamed' by the birds, hehe!

We didn't visit the Penguin Parade as I thought it was ridiculously expensive to pay $17 per person to crouch in the cold, on the beach, to wait for a group of penguins to come in from the sea. Anyway, we were really blessed to be able to see a couple of penguins hiding under the walkway when we were at The Nobbies :-)

Dinner was at Harry's On The Esplanade, which was a pretty posh seafood restaurant. The fish was simply fantastic, and I'd recommend anyone to try if you're ever at Phillip Island. Pricey though.

October 27-------------Coming to Australia, it would be real sad if I did not even see a koala bear, eh? ;-) Thus, we made a short trip to the Koala Conservation Centre. The koala bears are very cute, but boy, are they LAZY! Apparently, these bears sleep about 20 hours a day! The boyfriend enjoyed likening himself to one, that he'd love to sleep 20 hours a day too. Tee hee hee!

We didn't do much on that day, just drove around the island a bit, before we headed home.

By the way, I have yet to see any kangaroos though. Drats.

That night, we met up with May in the CBD for dinner. The boyfriend brought along his best bud, whom I introduced to my best bud, whom she introduced her bud to us too. It was pretty funny. Anyhoos, the five of us met up for dinner, and had a pretty good time.

October 28-------------Shopping day for me and the boyfriend, just to get last-minute gifts and such. He brought me to Knox City Shopping Centre, and also to Chadstone, where he *ahem ahem* got me a very gorgeous gift. Thanks babes, I absolutely LOVE it ;-)

October 29-------------The day I left for Malaysia. Sadly, the wonderful holiday had to come to an end. I was feeling real shitty that day, to think that the next time I see him again would be in February '07. Can't remember the time I cried that much. Although I left Melbourne with a really heavy heart, I bring home with me beautiful memories, which will last a lifetime.

Dear, I had such a wonderful time with you in Melbourne. It was heartbreaking to leave. I'm so glad that we got to know each other more during the awesome nine days which we had together. Can't wait to see you again. Love you.

Recently I've been really engrossed in trying to make my blog look "pretty", so much so that I've shunned blogs which do not measure up aesthetically. After a recent eye-opening incident, which I shall not divulge, I have come to realise one thing - just who the hell am I to judge what you do with your blog? You're right, at the end of the day, it's your blog. Do what you wish with it, write what you want; as long as it makes you happy, and most importantly, YOUR READERS enjoy it. Screw the rest.

Sometimes I've forgotten why I started my blog in the first place, which was all for a bit of fun. I've also forgotten how easily one can be sucked into the blogosphere.

Sometimes it takes a while for one to be shoved off his/her high horse, and I'm glad I've been humbled to see that I'm not all that either. I'd like to apologise to those blog owners/readers out there whom I've offended, whom I've made such a big deal of. Your readers maketh your blog. And that, my friends, is good enough.

It's been a tiring week, emotionally and financially speaking. I won't go about the emotional bits; suffice to say I'm glad the week's over. As for the finances ... I just paid almost RM3000 worth of bills yesterday. Two credit card bills and the monthly car loan thing. I've been having a lot of troubled thoughts on how badly I'm handling my finances. I'm going to have to go on a tighter budget next year, to sort everything out and, most importantly, to replenish the 'bucket'. This means that I won't be able to touch the end-of-the-year bonus at all. Okay, maybe just a tad, a couple of hundreds, and then the rest will have to go into the 'untouchable' account.

November 22, 2006

Yesterday evening, as I was walking to the car park after work, I saw this guy wearing the company uniform shirt, shiny black trousers ... and a pair of BRIGHT YELLOW CROCS.

As an advocate of shoes (and bags), I'd have to say, the Crocs has to be the UGLIEST pair of shoes ever designed. Please don't even tell me that it's all comfortable and shit, when you look like a duck in 'em. And wearing them to work?

November 21, 2006

As Christmas is approaching (and I'm still on a damn diet), I've decided to post a dreamlist (I call it a dreamlist because the items are too bloody expensive for ANYONE to buy. Well, anyone earning peanuts such as I, anyway), in hopes that these items will drop down from the sky for me. I shall update this dreamlist every now and then, because being a girl, we can never have too many things ;-) It'd also be an introduction to the brands and items I fancy. Yep, still in the vain phase, in conjunction of my diet.

I love Coach. My aunt (mum's sister) introduced us to Coach a decade ago, when she bought my mum a Coach bag from the US back then. Didn't know the brand at that time; to me, I thought Esprit was hip then (what was I thinking?!). When Mum went to the States a couple of years ago, she bought me a lovely Coach leather shoulder bag. It's discreetly labeled, so nobody knew it was a Coach. I wasn't bothered to tell anyone anyway. Anyways, my love of the brand started then. My aunt would bring back catalogues everytime she came back to Malaysia on a holiday, and I'd ooh and ahh over 'em. Mum has quite a lot of Coach bags, much to my envy. Cousin Bea has a cute demi (Poppy collection), which my uncle got her during one of his trips to the US.

Coach is RIDICULOUSLY overpriced in Japan. It's a covetted brand, but it's got to be their signature monogrammed bags. The Japs LOVE it when the brand is proudly displayed on the outside for all to see (and you call me shallow?) Okay, maybe I shouldn't stereotype ALL Japanese ... nope, sorry, can't do it. They love it. You probably won't see people QUEUING UP to buy Coach anywhere else in the world.

To date, I have three bags from Coach. One given to me by Mum, one by my cousin Geri (lovely black clutch; perfect for clubbing), and a fake travel duffle I bought in Bangkok for 199 baht. I'd love to get more, but till the day I start crapping money, the fakes are all I can afford for now, because I really cannot imagine spending almost a month's pay on a bag. Okay. Maybe just ONE more. It's cheaper in the US, y'know?

Temptations, temptations.

Babes, these are NOT hints, but feel free to indulge me if you please *wink*

November 20, 2006

You know what's scary? When you're having a good feeling about yourself, prancing about to your favourite tunes, totally having a Sex-and-the-City moment (you know, when you're having a Carrie Bradshaw moment, strutting yourself in pretend-Manolos (yeah, like I could afford the real thing), flipping the hair, etc? No? Just me then), and you go through your clothes, your favourite skirts? And when you try them on ... THEY BLOODY DON'T FIT?!

Shit.

There goes your Carrie Bradshaw moment, eh?

There've been many warning signs that I really needed to go on a diet. The ever-growing face (OMG, this is the worst), the flab, the bouncy flesh (ugh), etc. My wake-up call was yesterday, when I was trying out a black pencil-skirt which I bought quite some time ago (can't remember when I wore it last). The bloody skirt wouldn't fit, and when I tried out another skirt, all I saw was flab poking through the skirt. It was horrible. I blame the shitty feeling on The Devil Wears Prada.

So yeah, from today onwards, I'm on a diet. Strict one, with lots of water and exercise. I'm also keeping a food diary. Everyday, I have to write down exactly what I've eaten - breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner and snack. Oh, and I have to add the number of glasses of water I drink too, plus whatever exercise I did (IF I did any). Hopefully, this would smack me out of the oblivion of all the crap I've been eating for the past many months. My target's losing at least 5 kilos. I give myself 6 weeks or so. Would that work? Sigh, I hope so.

PS: Every morning, I watch a bit of The Devil Wears Prada (yes, it's obvious I dig the movie) to give myself that bit of inspiration to stick to my diet before I head to work. Gawd, how shallow could I be?

November 16, 2006

In a day - breakfast time, lunchtime, tea time, and time to go homeIn a week - Friday (no work for the next two days!)In a month - end of the month (salary comes in. Yay for a bit, but sigh at the same ol' crap pay)In a year - December (bonus!)In a few years or so - I'm outta here, baby!

November 15, 2006

Workload's taken a sudden turn, have a project presentation to do which could, hopefully *fingers crossed*, win me some moolah so that I can can pay off my credit card bills which I busted in Melbourne.

Will be on a bit of a hiatus for now. Or till I find more stuff to talk about ;)

November 08, 2006

Can't believe I'm sick again. Took a day off yesterday to see the doctor and rest. Boy, the doc sure gave me strong meds, because I was seriously knocked out for the entire day after taking 'em. I took a peek at my medical card (y'know, where they scribble in intelligible handwriting about what's wrong with you?); the last time I went to the doc's was October 2005!

Sigh. The problem with me is that I hate going to the doctor when something's wrong with me (which is kinda ironic, since I'm dating one). Absolutely hate it. I'm not keen on them sticking things down my throat (without a dinner and a movie first), probing me with cold metallic thingies (ouch!), and THEN tell me that there's nothing wrong with me except for a common cold. "No fever? Sorry, no MC for you". I'm like, WTF?! Do I look like I'm fit to work to you, with my runny nose, red eyes, achy body, chills and all that? Geez. And don't get me started on period cramps and such.

Oh well. Having said that, I guess this must be a yearly thing, eh? Does that mean I'll get the same thing again next year?

November 06, 2006

I love to read. Give me anything - the back of cereal boxes, shampoo bottles (I actually read 'em when I'm taking a shower), magazines (although I do draw the line at National Geographic and stuff like that. Hey, those only look good in pictures and videos, NOT in pages and pages of JUST writing!), books, etc, and I'd be a happy lass, tucked away in bed, enjoying hours of healthy (or trashy, hehe!) literature. As such, I amassed a LOT of books.

I have children's books which I kept since I was 7. I have enough encyclopedias, reference books, textbooks, novels and magazines to start my own library. When I studied in the UK, I brought home about 5 boxes of stuff, 2 of which were solely BOOKS. I bought books at the bookstores, second-hand shops (I lived next door to one); I had books as gifts, etc.

I love the smell of new books. Actually, scratch that; I love the smell of books. Period. Everything I go shopping, I MUST go to a bookstore. More often than not, I come out with a new book. The smell of a new book just gives me a sense of euphoria that I just can't explain. Even if the book's old, an odd yet excited feeling envelopes me, and I have to have it. I love running my fingers over the backs of books at bookstores. That's just the way I am. As for magazines, who would not be attracted to the pretty, glossy pages and 60% ads?

I normally take a couple of days (well, maybe more, give or take a couple of days more or so) to finish a book, depending on how busy I am. These days, I'm too engrossed with the computer; sadly, my beloved books have taken second place.

As such, I now have a LOT of books which I have not even read. I keep buying more books when the older ones aren't even finished. I'm fast running out of shelf-space.

Books which I have yet to read (three of 'em do not belong to me though). I know there are a lot of diet books. Shut up.

The problem with me is that I simply cannot give my books away. Call it a trait I inherited from my late paternal grandfather. I come from a family of hoarders. No matter how yellow the pages become, how old and manky they smell, I just don't have the heart to give my precious posessions away. I'm saving my Enid Blyton books for my kids, and the trashier ones for when they're older (hey, it's a bloody legacy, okay?). Selling at Ebay's not an option. I ended up buying more.

Sigh. Too many books, too little time to read, to little space to store. What's a girl to do?

November 03, 2006

Yay! The weekend's here. Nothing much planned, but at least it's 2 days away from the bloody office. Going to a Malay colleague's open-house party tomorrow. It'll be my first time attending such an event, and I'm pretty excited about it. There's gonna be kuih raya, lots of 'em. Oh yeah, there goes whatever diet I was supposedly on.

In light of the upcoming event, where I'll most likely be eating like a horse, I believe it's only fair that I have this in mind.

November 02, 2006

I watched In Her Shoes (a movie adapted from the book of the same title, by Jennifer Weiner) a couple of weeks ago, and although I found the movie a tad slow (it WAS a drama, after all), it certainly was a meaningful movie, about two sisters who finally found and understood each other, after so many years together.

I carry your heart with me(I carry it in my heart)I am never without it(Anywhere I go you go, my dear; And whatever is doneby only me is your doing, my darling)I fear no fate(For you are my fate, my sweet)I want no world(For beautiful you are my world, my true)And it's you are whatever a moon has always meantand whatever a sun will always sing is you

Here is the deepest secret nobody knows(Here is the root of the root and the bud of the budand the sky of the sky of a tree called life;Which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)And this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

I carry your heart(I carry it in my heart)

Beautiful, just beautiful.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to the book, which I've been trying to finish for days.

Down with a cold, achy body, sore throat, the works. On the bright side, I don't have to work today, so it's all good.

Too bad I don't have a fever, so I'm not warranted an MC (okay, here's a tip for all you docs, or docs-to-be: do us all a favour, we only get a maximum of 14 days of sick leave, so please, it wouldn't kill you to write us a chit to get off work, when we really are sick! Even without a fever! *grumble*). Have to work tomorrow. Ugh.

November 01, 2006

The Photos section of this blog is now ready (do click on Photos at the sidebar to expand). Currently, the photostream is only showing some of the photos which I took in Melbourne. Given time, I'll add more photos of different occasions, so stay tuned.

About Me

Almost thirty. Gemini. Happily married. Loves shopping. Hates baked beans with a vengeance. Thinks that the weekdays should be a weekend long, vice versa. Optimistic. Narcissistic. Not the average Jane.
This is my story.